Your MP's Question of the Week #10

Kuala Lumpur is working towards being a world-class city. Apart from developing the environment and infrastructure in an orderly and responsible manner to live up to that dream, the city must – as top priority – look to managing its people’s issues with care, love and understanding.

For what is a world-class city when the cityscape and bricks and mortars may look good but its people living in it are being bullied, antagonised and ignored? Therefore, your MP’s question for this week is …

Should the Datuk Bandar of Kuala Lumpur be elected by the rakyat of KL so that he/she can be more effective in looking into the rakyat’s problems and solving them without being inhumane and high-handed?

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24 Responses

Yes, I believe that a elect DB would serve the people instead of begin appointed.I would support a people’s referendum on this. Talking about our current DB, I have a feeling that he has corrupt practices. Of course , this is merely speculation. Maybe someone has some “inside” info on is financial situation. My guess is that there is some dirty laundry around.

Yes, the position of the KL Mayor should be an elected position, not an appointed one. In view of Putrajaya the new Federal Administrative Capital, the Federal Government should let go of Kuala Lumpur and return its administration back to the KL people. It is pointless to run two capitals- Kuala Lumpur should be state-run, leaving Putrajaya to be Federal-run.DBKL’s manner of running this city is too harsh. Also there are human rights violation issues, corruption allegations, unresolved land matters and other alleged questionable matters against DBKL. The BN Government must open talks with the KL MPs on how to resolved matters like the abovementioned. I must admit, it is almost impossible to resolve these issues from within. At the moment DBKL is waging war against KL citizens-how can this be? There are lack of resources also – mainly human resources, people with the correct skillset and management talent, to run this city council. The KL MPs must do something to amend the Federal Capital Act 1960 fast, without waiting for the much expected change in Federal Government administration. Reciprocally, the current Government must be receptive and agreable to the amendments in law before waiting for itself to be changed.

WCK!I repeat myself!The 2020 draft is illegal!The Phoenix Foundation has all the proof!Pls.contact me @ 0162948768 & for once{& permanently } we can sort out DBKL{ if that is your & PR’s real agenda}Chiao!

YES Election is long over due otherwise these current goons will go about in high handed manner based on their whims & fancies.An elected qualified Mayor & his team will definitely be the answer to the current mind boggling issues facing Wilayah United Folks.Thanks for bringing & pushing the agenda YB Wee/ Bro Choo Keong

I’m all for an elected Datuk Bandar for the simple fact that he’ll be answerable to the rakyat.For ages, non-BN parties have been calling for it but in vain. Was utterly surprised reading today’s NST (Streets, pg 1)where Gerakan FT Chairman Dr Tan Kee Kwong also called for local Govt elections.

YB, whether a mayor is elected or appointed, he must be able to withstand public scrutiny.For example in our church, before a priest is ordained, a SI QUIS is read for 3 consequtive weeks, giving notice to the congregation and public of his intention to serve them and to receive any objections to his appointment.People who have money and influence can buy votes. They can get elected into the seat of power to continue their excesses and untold sins. There is no guarantee elected officals are better appointed ones. Likewise, appointed officials may lack the resources to gain election but may have the heart to serve.Let the public opinions be their baptism of fire and barometer of their credibility and ability to serve them.

Yes! The City Mayor and all city councillors should be elected by us city folks. It is high time that the government restore all local government elections for the simple reason that the present councillors are not doing their jobs well. We deserve a say on how we run this city.

I fully support the notion that mayor of KL should be elected. By right the KL citizen should not pay the annual cukai pintu because the current mayor is being appointed rather than being elected by the citizens. No representation of the people means no tax need to be paid by the people !!! This is the principle which trigger the Independence War of United States against British colonial. Say NO to Federal-controlled mayor!

The most important asset of a country is not its natural resources, but rather its human resources. This is especially true in a knowledge-based economy, which, of course, will be the trend in the future if not already the trend in most of the western countries. My daughter, who is in her final year medicine in Auckland, told me that a team of Singapore recruitment officers have just visited Auckland and talked to the Malaysian students there, offering jobs and training prospects for the final year students once they graduate. My daughter also told me that over the last few years, quite a lot of her Malaysian seniors, after graduating from medical courses in New Zealand, have gone to Singapore to work as house-officers and subsequently stayed back in Singapore for their postgraduate training. Similar teams are sent to UK and Australia for recruiting Malaysians there to work in Singapore.About a year ago, Reuters reported: ‘Malaysia is counting on bright, ambitious people like Tan Chye Ling for its future, to lead it away from manufacturing and into the knowledge age.’But the 32-year-old scientist, a post-graduate in molecular biology, is not counting on Malaysia to look after her future.’I felt very suppressed in Malaysia,’ said Tan, who moved to neighbouring Singapore, the region’s pacesetter for biotech investment, after a decade of study and research in Malaysia.’I have benefited from the better research environment and salary scheme here. Things are much smoother,’ she said by phone from the National University of Singapore where she is studying dust mites and allergies. Tan estimates that 60 percent of the research teams she works with in Singapore are from Malaysia, despite her country’s efforts over several years to develop a biotech industry.There is a serious problem facing Malaysia and that is the problem of ‘brain drain’. Why are Malaysians overseas not coming back to work? Well, pay may be part of the reasons but it is not the main reason. Singapore recruitment teams offer Malaysian medical students a salary which is a few times what they would expect to get in Malaysia S$40000 a year for houseman after tax (equivalent to RM86000) which is about five times the pay of a houseman in Malaysia.But, as I say, pay is not the main problem. The living expense overseas is high. And for a person working overseas, the loneliness and the stress level is also high. So not everyone opts to work overseas because of the pay. Many would not mind to work for a lesser pay if they can stay near to their loved ones. So why do people choose to work overseas, away from their loved ones?Malaysia has many state-of-the-arts hospitals and research centres, which may even be the envy of many overseas countries. But hardware alone would not attract these experts to come home. In the medical field, I have so many friends/classmates working overseas, many in world-renowned centres. Why do they do that? Some of my classmates and friends did come back as specialists. After working a few years (many only lasted a few months), most got disillusioned and went off again. There is really not much prospect of career advancement here. How many can hope to become a professor even when they are an acknowledged expert in their field? On the other hands, lesser beings are being promoted to professorship for doing much less. How many of them can have a say about how things are to be run? How many of them can blend into the local team where the work attitude is vastly different from that overseas? There is an unwritten rule that even if the person is very good, the head of the team has to be someone from a certain ethnic group who may not be even half as good as him. In everyday life, some become disillusioned with the corruption, the red tape and the ‘tidak apa’ attitude of officialdom. For an overseas doctor applying to work back home, the application can take up to six months to get approved, whereas Singapore sends teams overseas to recruit them on the spot and offering them jobs immediately as long as they pass their final examinations. See the difference?It is the sense of being wanted and being appreciated that make these people stay overseas. Back here, they are often made to feel that they are of a lower class. They do not feel wanted and they do not feel appreciated. That is the main reason.For those with children, the education system further puts them off. Even school children can feel being discriminated against and one glaring example is the two system pre-university education.All these make them pack their bags and off they go again, leaving behind their parents, perhaps their siblings, the friends they grew up together with and their favourite food that is often not available overseas. No one likes to be away from home but circumstances and a sense of being recognised for their worth make them go away. It is really sad.Parents spend big sums of money on educating their children but the ones who benefit most are the Singaporeans, the British, the Australians, the Americans and so on. As long as race politics is not done away with, this problem of ‘brain drain’ will continue and Malaysia will always trail behind the advanced countries no matter how many Twin Towers and Putrajaya we build.

True enough, Article 153 of the 1957 Federal Constitution does provide for the special position of malays, natives of Sabah and Sarawak, and other marginalised groups. However, what this special position means is open for debate. Some believe it merely meant socio-economic position, one that changes dynamically and hence can be renegotiated. Further, pre-independence documents – the Cobbold Commission Report, Federation of Malaya Constitutional Proposals and the Reid Commission Report – reveal that this position was meant to be temporary. The “special right” of malays was therefore understood not as a God-given mark, but recognition of socio-economic status until such a time this could be elevated.

The situation in KL was created after the the disastrous 1969 elections where Perikatan lost terribly in Selangor, which then resulted in the May 13 incident. After that, they purposely carved out KL from Selangor to form the Federal Territory. The intention was to remove the mostly Chinese seats to ensure Perikatan (now called Barisan Nasional) would always form the Selangor government.But now BN had lost Selangor, and we KL people have no state assemblymen to service us, and no state government. I wonder if Selangor can demand for the return of KL and Putrajaya? Now the situation makes Selangor BN looked like traitors to the Selangor people.Pity the members of parliament like YB Wee, who have to work like 4 persons, but at the same time has no right to be heard at DBKL council meetings.